Flamingos: Some of the Toughest Birds on the Planet

To most, flamingos are tall, even delicate looking birds. But did you know that these fabulous creatures inhabit – and even thrive in – some of the most inhospitable places on the planet?

Lesser flamingos, for example, live in the Rift Valley soda lakes of Africa. Here they drink water from volcanic springs with temperatures near the boiling point! And temperatures can soar up to 154 degrees F – a harsh environment, don’t you think?

In fact, naturalist Leslie Brown who was the first person to discover a lesser flamingo breeding area, attempted to wade through the caustic water and mud to get a closer look. He received chemical burns on his legs that required three skin grafts and left them scarred for life.

On the other side of the spectrum are the flamingos found in South America. Chileans, Andeans and James’ flamingos can all be found living high in the Andes, where they survive temperatures that can dip to minus 20 degrees F - Yikes! In fact, a recent PBS show (Nature) which featured the Andes in one of their episodes, had incredible footage of a flock of flamingos roosting in one of the high altitude lakes. At night, temperatures plummet and the surface of the water freezes trapping the flock until morning when the sun rises and melts the surface of the lake.

These three species spend much of their time living on the Altiplano salt flats feasting on the brine shrimp and algae that flourish in the caustic waters of the volcanic lagoons. Amazingly, the flamingos’ long, skinny legs are completely unaffected by the burning and destructive waters, though they take care to rinse their feathered bodies in the nearby freshwater lakes. They also drink heavily from these freshwater sources because their feeding lagoons are not suitable.

In addition, the flamingo’s beak is highly specialized with bristles on their tongue and lamellae (or comb-like structures) on both the top and lower beaks. This allows them to efficiently filter out the tiny nutritious food particles from the caustic waters, thereby minimizing their ingestion of harmful substances such as sodium hydroxide.

So next time you visit the park and see our flamingos on exhibit, instead of thinking palm trees and sandy beaches, perhaps you might think volcanic springs and freezing lakes!

To check out more incredible footage on these amazing birds, visit the PBS web site featuring Nature’s episode, Andes: The Dragon’s Back.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this second installment of our "Pink Link" series!

Babies are Hatching at the Park!

Spring has sprung, summer has begun and love is in the air at SHWP. Everywhere you look, pairs are nesting and babies are hatching. Here is a look at some of our most exciting hatches at the Park…

First and foremost, we are proud to announce the successful hatching of a lesser flamingo chick. This past winter, pairs were enclosed in the exhibit’s breeding area, a small building located in the back. This "love nest" has proven to be especially important for the successful breeding of lesser flamingos in captivity. The area was thoughtfully designed by our General Curator, Brad Hazelton, to encourage the pairs to nest.

In the wild, flamingos nest in HUGE colonies, sometimes with up to a million birds! So to simulate this huge number in captivity, the walls of the nesting area is lined with mirrors. The nest area itself is composed of a nice muddy area, which the birds work with their beaks and feet to form mud mounds on which they lay a single egg. Temperature, lighting, and humidity were carefully monitored and at the beginning of May, the animal care staff was rewarded for their efforts with the hatching of the Park’s first lesser flamingo chick.

It is very rare for birds to breed the first year in new captive surroundings, and it is a credit to the Sylvan Heights staff that this chick was produced. The chick and its parents are now on display in the main exhibit area and we hope you all get a chance to stop by and get a closer look!

Also, a pair of masked lapwings (Vanellus miles) in our Australia exhibit has successfully hatched 4 eggs. Found throughout northern, central, and eastern Australia, these birds may nest at any time of the year when the conditions are favorable. Both sexes work at building the nest, which is a simple scrape in the ground away from any vegetation. Egg incubation and chick-rearing duties are also shared by both parents. The precocial chicks are able to leave the nest and feed on their own within just a few hours of hatching. To get a look at these tiny and adorable chicks, visit our Australian exhibit, where they can be found wandering close to their parents. But they grow up fast, so don’t wait too long!

The park also has a number of nesting ducks, swans and geese. In particular, the park’s swans have been a big crowd-pleaser. Visitors have enjoyed watching the fuzzy little cygnets that have hatched from our pairs of black-necked swans, whooper swans and black swans. If you happen to see a pair on the water with babies, be sure to check the parent’s back as sometimes the cygnets get a bit sleepy and like to take a little ride!

Are You Flamingo Savvy?

One of Sylvan Height’s most popular attractions is the Flamingo Exhibit. Located in the center of the park, our flock is a mix of lesser and Chilean flamingos. Visitors can enter the exhibit to view these colorful birds from a viewing deck located on the edge of the flamingo’s pool.

To celebrate the popularity of these birds, we’re excited to bring you the first installment of our "Think Pink" series, which will bring to you interesting information about flamingos once a month. We’ll try to cover a little bit of everything, from their biology to their history in captivity. And we’ll also include facts about the flamingo flock here at Sylvan Heights. So if you’re an avid flamingo afficionado, or your children have a research project that they need help with, or you're simply a fan of anything related to Sylvan Heights, hopefully you’ll find some useful information here.

How many flamingos are there?

One of the most distinct birds in the world, flamingos are instantly recognizable. To most people, flamingos are those tall, pink birds with the long legs and neck. And that’s absolutely correct. But did you know that there are six different kinds of flamingos? In Europe and Africa, you can find the greater and the lesser flamingos. In the Americas, there are the Caribbean flamingo, the Chilean flamingo, the Andean flamingo, and the James’s flamingo. And believe it or not, they can all be distinguished from each other. There are small differences, such as the size of their bodies, shape of their beaks, and the color of their beaks, eyes, feathers or even legs!

Take a look at these pictures of both flamingo species at Sylvan Heights. You’ll see a lesser flamingo on the left and a Chilean on the right. Can you see the differences in eye, beak and feather color? What about the shape of the head? The Chilean’s is slightly longer, less compact. They also tend to be larger birds with longer legs that are more of a pale pink compared to the lesser’s dark pink ones.

Next time you visit the park, take a little trip down to the Flamingo Exhibit and see if you can pick out the Chilean from the lesser flamingos. Then come back here and leave us a comment letting us know how you did!

We'll post more information about flamingos in our Think Pink installment next month. Until then, we'll be bringing you updates about the park, including events, membership opportunities, animal adoption kits and, of course, introducing you to more of the beautiful animals living at Sylvan Heights.